Dementia
by Claerwen
Summary: When Ginny is sent back in time, she meets the boy who terrorized her so much. A more human Tom Riddle. Ginny can't go back in time, she can only help Harry by destroying Tom Riddle. And changing the future. Is it possible?
1. Chapter 1

This is the first fanfiction I have written in third person POV, and I may change it to first person occasionally. The first part will confuse you, just ignore it.

A/Ns:  
1. Tom Riddle is a sixth year, a year AFTER the basilik and the year BEFORE the summer he kills his father. So he doesn't have Gaunt's stone yet.  
2. In this fic, the 17 years later epilogue at the end of DH NEVER happened, it starts off during the time Harry is at Hogwarts at the end, fighting Voldemort.

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_Hogwarts Great Hall :: Harry's Sixth Year :: Monday 7:47 A.M._

Harry put his hand on his mouth and stifled a yawn. Next to him, Ron was scanning over Potions notes for their exam today while attempting to swallow his bacon. Hermione was scanning _The Daily Prophet, _looking for any notice of Voldemort's whereabouts.

"Anything new?" He asked Hermione. Hermione put the paper on the table and sighed.

"Voldemort's been sighted in London. Killed Seraphine Courtois. A Healer at St. Mungo's," she said.

"What'd Voldemort want with a Healer?" asked Ginny, sitting down beside Hermione.

"I don't know. He killed her personally, I think/ She wasn't even in the Order" Hermione said. Harry looked over at the staff table. Dumbledore's chair was empty. He was absent again. He would have known what Voldemort would have wanted with a Healer, one that wasn't probably even in the Order. He returned to his toast, spreading jam on it slowly. He heard a flurry of wings above him. The owls were in again. He scanned them, searching for Hedwig. Seraphine Courtier never entered his thoughts again.

xXx

_Hogwarts :: Supposed to be Harry's Seventh Year :: Day Unknown. Day of Battle at Hogwarts_

Ginny raced through the hallways of Hogwarts. Harry. Where was Harry? Was he dead? Was he alive? Had he killed Voldemort. Her feet rapped against the stone floor, occasionally jumping over a dead or immobile body. All these people - her friends and enemies - so many were dead. She heard cheers coming from somewhere. The Great Hall? Dammit, what was happening?

"Aha!" Said a voice behind her. Ginny didn't stop running; she turned her head to see who saw her. A Death Eater - she couldn't recognize him, or her - was standing, pointing his/her wand at Ginny. _No! I need to find Harry!_ The figure raised his/her wand.

"No!" yelled Ginny. She heard gasps and screams around her, but not because of her.

The last thing she remembered before she hit the ground was a jet of light. Green, maybe?

xXx

_Hospital Wing :: Tom M. Riddle's Sixth Year :: Saturday, September 6th_

Nothing. Ginny felt nothing when she came to near consciousness. No pain. Not even any numbness or nausea. She was dead. She had to be dead. Ginny lay, with her eyes shut.

"Riddle found her at the side of the lake, he said," said a familiar voice somewhere around Ginny. Where was she? Her eyes were still shut, and she seemed to be lying on something soft. A bed? . _Harry? Where's Harry?_, she thought desperately.

"She kept muttering that, too. Always the same thing, according to Riddle. 'Harry Potter, Harry Potter,'" said the familiar, squeaky voice. Dumbledore's? No, it couldn't be. Dumbledore was dead, and his voice wasn't so high pitched. Had she said Harry's name aloud? _Harry..._Pain and nostalgia overcame her senses, washing over her.

"Strange, strange," said another, slightly feeble voice above her. Who was it? The pain slowly started to ebb away. Perhaps she wasn't dead, if she was feeling pain.

"She's awake, you know," said another familiar voice. Dumbledore. It sounded exactly like Dumbledore. Ginny snapped open her eyes. Three wizards stood at the side of her bed. Her eyes flickered across the room. She was in the Hospital Wing, yet it looked slightly different somehow. Her eyes shifted to the wizards by her side. An old, white haired wizard stood closest to her. He had a long white beard and hair. Who was he? He didn't seem to work for the Ministry? More importantly, where was Harry? Next to him was Professor Flitwick, short as ever. And on the other side...Dumbledore. It had to be Dumbledore. This Dumbledore looked younger, however. A shorter beard, and his hair was not white, but brownish and shorter. Ginny blinked.

"Am I _dead?_" She thought aloud. The three wizards chuckled. Ginny blinked again. She _was _dead, wasn't she? If Dumbledore was here.

"No, of course not," said the young Dumbledore. It couldn't _really _be Dumbledore...his nephew? Identical twin?

"But you like just like Dumbledore?!" Ginny blurted out. The young Dumbledore smiled.

"I _am_ Albus Dumbledore," said the young Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling. Ginny's mouth stayed open in disbelief. _Dumbledore is dead! _Ginny looked around the ward curiously. Everything looked fairly normal. The beds and everything were just like Ginny remembered them. But shouldn't it be crowded? Because of all the injured people from the battle...say...Flitwick looked pretty young too. His salt-and-pepper hair was black, his skin smooth and tan.

"What brings you to Hogwarts?" asked the feeble elder wizard. Ginny blinked. Didn't they know she went to school here? The hospital ward was empty. What happened to all the injured from the battle? _Something's wrong..._For a second, Ginny was paralyzed with an iridescent fear. Was she the only one left?

"Oh, Armando," said the young Dumbledore cheerfully, "this is our young transfer from Beauxbatons. Seraphine Courtois. You received a letter from her former headmaster yesterday. She came here in late June, remember?" _Seraphine Courtois?! Where have I heard that before?! What the hell is Dumbledore saying? _**(A/N: Courtois is pronounced Cour-twah, and Ginny doesn't remember the name)**

"Ah, this is?" The wizard - Armando - stared at Ginny curiously through his glasses. "You are Miss Courtois?"

"No..." said Ginny quickly. _Wait? Shouldn't I just go along with what Dumbledore is saying?_ "I mean, yes," said Ginny uncertainly. What the bloody hell was going on?

"Yes, it is," said Dumbledore matter-of-factly. Ginny stared at him questioningly, but he said nothing. "You'll start your sixth year on Monday I presume?"

"Monday?!" asked Ginny. _Sixth_ year? She was seventeen! Wasn't the school year over? Where were all the Death Eaters? Where was Madam Pomfrey? Ginny cleared her throat. "Er, Professor? What day is it?"

"Saturday, September 6th," chirped Flitwick. _Man, his voice is squeakier than normal._

"What?! I've been out for three months?!" Ginny half-yelled.

"No, I suppose not," said Armando. "I am Armando Dippet, the headmaster of Hogwarts. You must have only been out for a few days. One of our prefects found you by the lake. You must have passed out after your long trip."

"Headmaster? _You're _headmaster?!" Ginny said, without realizing it was a bit too loud. And rude. A bit. She lowered her voice, "Sorry...what-, what year is it?"

"1943," said Dumbledore, his blue eyes twinkling behind his half moon glasses. _1943?!_ Ginny's shock showed on her face. She'd been sent back in time? But how? Why? Tears started surfacing in her eyes. _No no Ginny, don't cry! For God's sake, it will be alright, _she tried to reassure herself.

"You're obviously not thinking quite straightly, we'll leave you to rest," said Flitwick. He looked at Dippet. "Shall we call Madam Millikan?"

_Madam Millikan?! Is she the nurse now? _Ginny thought....1943..._why that was probably during Voldemort's time_. She shuddered as she remembered the diary. _He'd been a fifth year in March 1943_ she remembered_. He's a sixth year now? _More importantly, _how _and _why _had she been sent back in time?! Was there some reason to it? How was she going to get back? Tears sprang to her eyes. How would she get back to Harry? She looked up at Dumbledore.

"Sorry, Professor, there has been a mistake. I'm not Seraphine Courtois. I'm from 1996, not 1943. My name is Ginny Weasley, Professor, and I have _no idea_ how I got here!" Ginny said tearfully. Flitwick glanced at Dippet. They'd help her, wouldn't they? If she wasn't really dead?

"Time travel?" Flitwick asked uncertainly. Ginny shrugged.

"Well, obviously Miss Courtois is not feeling well. Perhaps she is imagining things. I'll wait for Madam Millikan," said Dumbledore. Ginny's mouth dropped open. Why wasn't Dumbledore helping her? Shouldn't _he _be on her side?

"Very well," said Dippet, moving away. He looked at Ginny. "I'll see that all your classes be arranged. Tomorrow - whenever you are feeling well - come to my office for the Sorting. Flitwick?" Flitwick's head jerked up, and silently they both walked away, leaving Ginny with Dumbledore. Ginny stared at their receding backs, waiting to speak until they had disappeared.

"Professor Dumbledore-" gushed Ginny. Dumbledore raised a hand.

"Miss Courtois, for reasons unknown you have mysteriously been sent into the past, correct?" Dumbledore asked.

"Yes- How?" stumbled Ginny. He was going to help her, right?

"I do not know," said Dumbledore thoughtfully. "However, time travel has been a very controversial and mysterious topic of study. I suppose that someone in the future had an important mission for you. For that reason, Dippet 'remembers' you being here in late June. As well as your classmates in Beauxbatons, who all must have Confounded to remember your presence for the past six years."

"But what?" asked Ginny. "What mission? By who?"

Dumbledore shrugged. "I do not know, Miss Courtois. I only received belongings of yours and a letter explaining everything. You are to stay at Hogwarts for all holidays, even during summer, because your parents were killed by Grindelwald in France, and I - your parents close friend - am to watch over you. Think, Miss Courtois," Dumbledore leaned in, "Why do you think someone would have chosen you to go back in time? What could you have done to change the future? Was there something you needed to stop, to do? Think hard, Miss Courtois, and you will know the answer."

Ginny thought. Tom Riddle. Obviously, someone sent her back in time to stop Tom Riddle from becoming Voldemort. What else was there in 1943? Ginny shivered, remembering the diary. Tom Riddle's diary. Only six years ago she had been tormented by him. But how would _she _do that? Wasn't that Harry's job? "Will I ever get back to my time?"

Dumbledore looked at her carefully. "I do not know," he said softly, "Perhaps not."

Ginny felt pain consume her. Luna, Neville, Hermione, Ron, Fred, George, all her brothers...Harry...she wouldn't see them again. Something wet rolled down her cheek. Her breathing got shallower. Harry. She would never again see Harry. An image flashed through her mind: Harry, struggling, dueling with Voldemort...Dumbledore looked at her sympathetically.

"I'm sure whoever sent you back knew you would be able to handle this," said Dumbledore softly. _Hah...they were wrong..._thought Ginny. Dumbledore moved away. "I'll leave you now, Miss Courtois. If there's anything you need we will be there. It will be alright," he said consolingly. Ginny ran a hand through her hair. She closed her fingers, staring at her hair in horror. Blonde. Her hair was blonde. She was an entirely new person now.

Ginny choked back tears, until Dumbledore was definitely out of the ward.

The last thing she remembered before falling asleep, was Harry's face. _I'll never see him again..._, she thought miserably.

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**  
Think its something you'll read? If you read it, review it. Simple policy.** **Constructive Criticism much needed.  
****Remember the first chapter of the first book of Harry Potter? Was it great? Not really much...so neither is this...  
Tom Riddle shows up later  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hahaha Chapter 2**

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Ginny sighed. She was sitting in Headmaster's office. It was Sunday, she'd just gotten out of the hospital wing that morning, and came here straight after getting out of bed. Instead of Madam Pomfrey, there was someone else just as fussy. Madam Millikan, who'd bothered her about "getting out of the ward so early." Apparently her belongings were already somewhere. _Like I have any idea what's going on... _Ginny had...sort of calmed herself down. _I still don't know what the hell is happening. _In front of her, Headmaster Dippet was fumbling in his drawers for her records. His office was rather drab and plain, compared to when she'd seen Dumbledore's.

"Ah, Miss Courtois," said Dippet, pulling out a file from one of his drawers. "Let's see..." he pulled on his glasses. Ginny blinked. _Harry had glasses..._"Well, it seems you are in a lot of N.E.W.T. classes...judging from your O.W.L.s" he said. Ginny's jaw dropped. Had her old O.W.L.s somehow carried on to this time? Cause she hadn't done too well...

"Er, what were my O.W.L.s again, sir?" she asked. She was still not getting used to this getting-sent-back-in-time thing. In fact, she didn't think she ever would.

"Why, you had Outstanding in all of them," said Dippet, looking over a sheet of paper. Her grades? "Except for Care of Magical Creatures, of course. I was so sorry to hear of your Professor Archaius's death. Dragon pox at his age..."

"Er," Ginny bit her lip. _Outstanding in EVERYTHING?! What the bloody hell...I only had Os in Transfiguration and DADA._ _Have my O.W.L.s been changed?! Why?! Oh....stupid mission..._ "What classes am I taking, sir?"

"Transfiguration, Defense Against the Dark Arts, Charms, Herbology, Potions, History of Magic, Astronomy, and Divination," said Dippet, reading off a list. Ginny gulped. Astronomy? Divination? She had never attempted Divination before...

"Sir, whose the Divination Professor?" asked Ginny. Surely Trelawney wasn't.

"Professor Jenista," said Dippet. He crossed his fingers and stared at her. "Perhaps we shall do the sorting now?"

"Erm-," _Can't I just request to be in Gryffindor? Wait...won't the hat just put me in Gryffindor since I was there? _"Uhhhhh, sure," Ginny got up and pulled the hat off a shelf. Her hands caressed it; it wasn't as raggedy as she remembered. She sat down on a stool and tentatively put it on her head. _I never expected to wear it again._ The hat didn't even cover her eyes as it had when she first put it on as a first year.

_**Hello my dear...unexpected time change, eh? **_

Er...yes...can I be in Gryffindor? ****

Oh...odd. Well, dear, you can't just request to be in the house you want to be in, even if it was the house you were previously in...I see you have a darker and mroe sinister purpose...

No, Harry told me that he asked you to be put into Gryffindor ****

But he didn't have the same purpose and intention as you do...you want to achieve something, and there's one house that will help you. 

Er, okay...just not- ****

Why, you belong in-

"Slytherin!" yelled the Sorting Hat, confirming Ginny's fears. _Slytherin?! I don't want Slytherin! I don't want to have to do anything with Tom Riddle._ Her hand tightened around her wand in her pocket.

"Is it possible...to change houses?" asked gulped. Slytherin, really. Dippet shook his head, the corner of his mouth up in a smile.

"The Sorting Hat is always right," he said. "Slytherin is not bad, it will take you to great things." Ginny gulped. Tom Riddle had taken advantage of her six years ago. She couldn't let him do it again. Her fingers loosened around her wand. Dippet cleared his throat, "You will get your time table tomorrow morning, I'll have your head of house - Professor Slughorn - give it you." Dippet looked over at the portraits on the walls. "Phineas!"

Phineas Nigellus raised his head. He looked up at Ginny curiously, before snapping to Dippet. He looked exactly like how Ginny remembered him. Stiff and haughty.

"Yes, Armando," said Phineas. He eyed Ginny carefully. "A new Slytherin? Congratulations." Ginny didn't answer to that.

"Yes, Phineas," said Dippet, "I need you to call a prefect to escort Miss Courtois to her common room." Phineas disappeared through the portrait. To Slytherin Common Room? He passed through the other portraits and out of the room, disgruntling several past headmasters.

"Er, Professor?" Ginny cleared her throat. "Do you...Do you mind if you called me Ginevra?" asked Ginny. Seraphine was too weird of a name. Dippet raised an eyebrow and stared at her questioningly. "It's, uh, my middle name," explained Ginny. _Please go along with it. I do not want to be called Seraphine. I won't respond!_

"Alright, Miss Courtois," said Dippet. Ginny sighed. With her blonde hair, she didn't even look like a Weasley anymore. She couldn't lose her identity. That'd be too much...The door burst open, and a boy strode in. He was tall, with dark hair and a handsome face. A seventh year? A prefects badge shone on his chest. _Oh, thank God it's not Tom Riddle._ Ginny shivered. She didn't think she could take the dark haired boy who had so taken advantage of her six years ago.

"You wanted me, Professor?" said the boy, looking at Ginny curiously with his dark eyes. _No, thank God it's not Tom Riddle. Tom had green eyes..._However, he did look oddly familiar to Ginny.

"Yes, Mr. Black," said Dippet. _Oh, Black. He's a Black. Figures why he looks so familiar..._thought Ginny. "Miss Seraphine Courtois is a sixth year transfer from Beauxbatons. She's just been sorted into Slytherin, so please show her around."

Ginny blinked. _A Slytherin?! Show her around?! I hope he's not nasty..._Mr. Black - whatever his first name was - looked at her curiously.

"Alright sir," he said politely to Dippet, keeping his eyes on Ginny. He held the door open for Ginny, who eyed Dippet curiously.

"Any questions, Miss Courtois?" asked Dippet. Ginny shook her head.

"No, sir," she said.

"Very well then. Feel free to come to my office whenever there is need. Various prefects such as Mr. Black will help you out, as well as your Head of House," said Dippet. Ginny nodded timidly. "Good day then, Miss Courtois, Mr. Black."

Ginny followed the-seventh-year-prefect-whose-first-name-she-still-didn't-know out the door. Everything in Hogwarts seemed to be exactly as she remembered, minus the Death Eaters at every corner when Snape took over. She and the-seventh-year-prefect-whose-first-name-she-still-didn't-know walked silently next to each other. Awkwardly silently.

"Er," _He's not going to bite, Ginny. _"What's your first name?" Black looked at her out of the corner of his eye. Ginny stared back.

"Sterling," he said.

"Oh, then who's Orion?" said Ginny without thinking, remembering the name from the Black family tree she had seen two years ago. _Oops!_ She almost clapped a hand to your mouth, before remembering it would make it look too obvious. _He doesn't__ know I've been to his house! Stupid me!  
_  
"_How_ do you know Orion?" asked Sterling curiously, eyeing her suspiciously.

"Er," began Ginny. "I-, uh, I met him in...Diagon Alley?"

"We don't go to Diagon Alley," said Sterling, raising an eyebrow. _Oh right, the Slytherin families normally go to Knockturn Alley. Smooth, Ginny._

"Some alley," Ginny tried to change the subject. "How're you related to him? He's a Black too, right?"

"He's my older brother," said Sterling slowly. "He graduated two years ago."

"Oh," said Ginny. "What year are you?" She asked curiously.

"Seventh," said Sterling. "Where exactly did you meet my brother?" He asked again, rather impatiently.

"I don't remember!" said Ginny aggravatedly. "I'm from _France_, remember that?"

"Ah, right. Beauxbatons," sneered Black, "Are you pureblood? How come you don't have an accent?"

"I was raised in English. I'm as pure as you," grumbled Ginny. _Slytherins of the past were just as obsessed with blood status as they are in the future, _she grumbled silently.

"I've never heard of any Courtois," sneered Black.

"Yeah, obviously," Ginny searched for an answer, "I'm _French._ How many French families do you know?" Sterling looked dumbfounded for a second.

"Watch yourself," he growled, "I'm prefect," he said, pointing to his shiny badge.

"I can see that," said Ginny. Black glared at her. They had stopped in front of a blank stretch of wall. Ginny blinked. She hadn't even kept track of where they were going. This was the Slytherin common room, she remembered. Tom Riddle's diary had once shown it to her. Ginny shuddered absent mindedly.

"You'll need to remember where this is, of course. And the password," said Black, going into automatic tour guide mode. Black stared up at the wall. "Grindylow," he said, and the wall slid open, revealing a dark common room decorated in green and silver. Ginny shuddered. _I never thought I'd be one a Slytherin. _She felt a sick feeling in her stomach. _Breathe, Ginny. You can do this. _She stepped into the common room, following Black. She blinked and looked around. _Funny, it seems exactly like the Gryffindor common room, except silver and green and full of suspicious and unfriendy people._ A pang of home sickness passed through Ginny. She was all alone now. All alone in Hogwarts. And with blonde hair. _Blonde._ Students lounged around the common room. It was midday, Ginny remembered. They sat in separate groups, whispering or chatting loudly. A couple of groups stopped when they saw Ginny and stared at her. _I knew I looked bad in blonde hair..._

"Where's Riddle?" Black spoke to a few students sitting domineeringly by the fire place. Ginny blinked. Riddle? She didn't want to see Tom Riddle _now. _She was tired, and distraught. Ginny looked around at the three students Black was speaking to. She thought she saw a Lestrange...Bellatrix's husband, maybe? He looked familiar, sitting in the middle, obviously domineering over the two other boys.

"Great Hall," said the Lestrange-looking-one. He and the two others with him were staring at Ginny curiously. Almost glaring. Ginny stiffened. "Who's she?" the boy asked Black.

"_I _am Ginny," Ginny cut in. Lestrange looked at her, amused at her abrupt answer.

"Where does Ginny come from? Your name is Seraphine." said Black coldly, staring at her like she was stupid. Oh, right. She hadn't told him her "middle" name.

"Er, my middle name," Ginny felt weak under their stares. Others in the common room were now listening in. "From Ginevra," she said. Lestrange glanced at Black, who cleared his throat. He pointed to a door near a bulletin board.

"That leads to the girls dorms. Your stuff should be in the sixth years' room," said Black, his black eyes boring into hers. "You can find your way now, can't you? I'm sure -- if you have taken your O.W.L.s -- you've had a tour of the castle when you came and took them, haven't you?"

"Sure..." said Ginny. _I haven't taken those O.W.L.s...has Dumbledore done something? Put my presence in the past, so that people really remember me?_ Lestrange and his two comrades --who looked and seemed oddly like Crabbe and Goyle, now-- stood up, still keeping their eyes on Ginny. Their eyes bore into her, making her feel uncomfortable. Alienated. Ginny shivered. She _was _different. No Weasley had ever been in Slytherin. Ever.

"So, uh, I'll go now," she said, glancing around uneasily. They seemed to be waiting for her to leave. "So, erm,... see you?" She said to Black. It wouldn't hurt to be nice to the Slytherins. She was stuck with them for two more years, anyways. Black nodded.

"Feel free to ask us for anything," said Lestrange suavely, almost too nicely. His voice was deep, and verbato. It shot chills down Ginny's spine.

"Right," lied Ginny. _I'll be sure not to ask him anything._ Lestrange was still staring at her, making Ginny uncomfortable. "Uh, bye."

Lestrange and his two cronies got up, and Ginny turned on her heel to the girls' dorms, ignoring the stares of everyone in the room. She blinked back tears. She missed her brothers. Fred and George's humor, Ron's oddness, Percy's stick-up-his-arse attitude. Most of all, she missed Harry...

The dorm room was empty. It was the middle of day, but still Ginny was tired. There were four beds in the room, one of which had her things by it. _The bed hangings are _green, she acknowledged. She shuddered, so unused to the green and silver and snakes instead of the Gryffindor lions and red. Hogwarts -- no, Gryffindor tower -- had been her _home._ Now she was a _Slytherin._

_A Slytherin. Ha ha_, she thought dryly, as she lay down on her bed. She fell asleep right away.

After all, don't people sleep when they are most distressed?


End file.
